Lufthansa deal hinges on anti-trust immunity

The US-German open skies agreement is the latest and most important of the bilateral deals which have so piqued the Commission.

European Voice

4/3/96, 4:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 1:08 AM CET

On 2 February, the German government announced it had secured a conditional agreement with the US on an ‘open skies’ deal.

Under the agreement:

Lufthansa wins access to all US destinations

all restrictions on flight frequency, capacity, charter traffic and code-sharing are removed

the price regime for passenger traffic is abolished

cargo traffic is completely liberalised

German and American investmentscan be made in third-country carriers

if either country provides cabotage rights or liberalised foreign ownership, this will be applied to German or US carriers on amost-favoured nation basis.

The agreement does not, however, liberalise ground-handling services and slot allocation will continue to be governed by EU regulations.

The German government has made it clear that its final agreement to the open skies arrangement depends on whether the US Justice Department grants anti-trust immunity to the Lufthansa alliance with United Airlines, along the lines of that granted to KLM/Northwest and BA/USAir.